Grammy Winner Shawn Colvin Comes to WHBPAC
“(All Fall Down is) an album about
The two worked together in Miller’s
loss but also about redemption and
home studio, and they encouraged
t’s fitting that Grammy Award winning resolution,” says Colvin. Fans who
drop-ins from such acclaimed artists
singer/songwriter Shawn Colvin is looking have come to enjoy Colvin’s signature
as Emmylou Harris, Allison Krauss,
forward to performing by the water, as she folk tunes will find that her newest
Mary Chapin Carpenter, Jacob Dylan
brings her fluid and melodic voice to the tracks are also evocative of her
and fiddle player Stuart Duncan. The
Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on previous works. “I don’t deviate a lot
instrumentals and the guest voices
June 29 at 8 p.m.
in my style,” says Colvin. “Although
also enable this album to bridge the
Colvin, whose most popular song is arguably I would say that this album is a little
folk-country genre.
the calm but haunting “Sunny Came Home” (the more country.”
“I just really felt confident with
1998 Grammy selection for Song of the Year),
Colvin wrote or co-wrote eight of
Buddy Miller as the producer,” says
has recently released her eighth studio album the album’s 11 tracks, which also
Colvin “I’m in awe of his talent, and I
titled All Fall Down.
feature cover songs. The country Shawn Colvin
was really excited to see what he was
“I’m excited that I have new songs to play, musings are due in large part to the
going to do with this record.”
and hope my fans feel the same way too,” says fact that All Fall Down is produced by longtime
More than being an inspiration, Miller was a
Colvin of her current tour.
friend and Nashville resident Buddy Miller. catalyst that helped to launch Colvin’s career.
Born in South Dakota and raised in London,
Ontario and ultimately Carbondale, Ill., Colvin
had learned to play guitar by the time she was
10 years old. Her first public performance was
on campus at the University of Illinois when she
was 15 years old. From her Midwestern roots,
Colvin moved on to Austin, Texas, where she
became more engrained in the country-rock
genre, as she worked on other artists’ material.
Miller heard Colvin’s work and encouraged
her to come to New York to sing in his band. She
was soon performing with the likes of Suzanne
Vega, as she worked to discover her own voice
as a songwriter. Colvin released her first album,
Steady On, in 1989, for which she earned a Best
Contemporary Folk Album Grammy. But it was
Colvin’s fourth album, A Few Small Repairs and
the track “Sunny Came Home,” an eventual
Top 10 hit, that catapulted her into the upper
echelon of the music industry. In addition to
earning the Grammy for Song of the Year in
1998, the song also won Record of the Year.
Colvin has since garnered an international
following, as fans have come to know her for
her humor, sensuality and ability to combine
her knack for storytelling with strong, simple
melodies.
“A lot of times, the inspiration is what is given
to me,” says Colvin, who explains that she often
receives just the music or the title of the song
and is then asked to write the lyrics. Mimicking
the emotional, sensitive and fluid nature of
her songs, Colvin’s songwriting process is not
Thursday 23rd Street
Sunday East Hampton
highly formalized. If she is in the writer’s
to East Hampton
to 23rd Street
mindset, she is able to write anywhere.
And, in that vein, Colvin also released a
3:00, 5:00 & 7:00 p.m.
4:30 & 6:30 p.m.
memoir titled Diamond in the Rough on June 5,
the same day as All Fall Down.
“It’s a bit of a companion piece,” Colvin says
Friday 23rd Street
Monday East Hampton
of the book, in relation to the album. Diamond
to East Hampton
in the Rough is a behind-the-scenes look at
to 23rd Street
Colvin’s life as a singer and songwriter, and
1:00, 3:00, 5:00 & 7:00 p.m.
7:30 & 9:15 a.m.
it gives her fans intimate details about her
songwriting process, tour and upbringing.
“I was dared to write the memoir,” says
Colvin.
She wrote two chapters to prove the
For Scheduled Service between NYC and East Hampton
naysayer wrong, and the rest of the book flowed
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from there. “Challenges and dares inspire me,”
affirms Colvin.
Her next challenge may be finding time to
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head to the beach, which Colvin says is an
exciting aspect about performing on the East
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End, but one she’s unsure she’ll be able to enjoy
with her busy tour schedule.
Regardless, “summer is the best time to
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perform,” says Colvin.
By Kelly laffey